Runaway RoosterMelinda Szymanikillus Lael ChisholmBateman, 2026Bateman page Melinda Szymanik’s Runaway Rooster is a glorious read – a picture book that showcases a deft and agile progre…

Time Out Bookstore has a terrific poetry selection. I have invited Frances Libeau, the poetry buyer, to feature a poetry book every now and then. Perennial CounterpartYongyu ChenNightboat Books, Ne…

wildingcaught on the strapof my tote bag  she crawlslike an infant  small and ruby- reda coal-spottedbeautyforagingfor warmth  obliviousto my silly littleruminationsof…

AUP New Poets 12Zephyr Zhang, Loretta Riach, Anuja Mitraeditor Anne KennedyAuckland University Press 2026 AUP New Poets 12 page roots | 漂叶无根 my mum always lays out succulentcuttings like severed li…

Linda Collins at home in Kakanui outside her writing shed with her debut collection, Sign Language for the Death of Reason. Photo credit: Oamaru Mail Linda Collins was awarded the 2026 Caselberg Tr…

Event by Te Papa 55 Cable Street, Te Aro, Wellington, New Zealand 6011 Join poet Helen Rickerby for a writing workshop in response to the exhibition Slow Burn: Women and Photography | Ahi Tāmau: Mā…

The Remembered Forest I flew over the North Island in a jetplaneand noticed the clouds for once, howthey covered the land like a forest,a huge forest billowing into the skywith its fungi, insects, …

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Celebrating the new poetry collection by Michelle Elvy with readings by James Norcliffe, Erik Kennedy, Rachel Smith, Claudia Herz Jardine & Tania Roxborogh Join us for refreshments and a blast …

Need some extra salt on your lunch? In October, Airini Beautrais and Helen Lehndorf are visiting Wellington to talk humour in poetry and read a few poems from their recent collections ‘Salt Q…

In the mangroves Standing amongst the mangroves,I notice how fiercely they anchorthemselves in the mud, how theyhave chosen to make this sticky,impenetrable placetheir home. I admire that. The idea…

Rain Hugs Golden honey sun warms me.Drooling rain hugs me.The crackling stars glisten.The cloudy grey moonis swimming to the other side. Maggie M age 11, Te Parito Kōwhai Russley School The sky oft…

Early Class In 1978 in the old Onehunga Primary school hallwe met with a group of teachers and parentsto show off the new technology—a Casio calculatorwhich I demonstrated with a classmate,and enco…

View From A Mountain Replica waka houruacruising up the Whakaraupo ki te !angaby the Naval Point seems indifferentto the semi laden bulk carrieron its wayto Somewhere Elsewith the rest of its ammon…

Emergency Department staff at Tauranga Hospital have declared "a state of emergency", warning of the risks of an ED which they say is often running at 150-200 percent of its capacity, without the staf...

Tackling the Hens, Mary McCallumThe Cuba Press, 2026 Mary McCallum’s latest poetry collection, Tackling the Hens (2025), is a poetic engagement, both intimate and intricate, with the world cl…

Cass and the Beast Claire Mabey and Jill CalderGecko Press, 2026 Gecko Press page Like poems, children’s picture books can be and do so many things. Claire Mabey’s debut picture book, Cass and the …

tomorrow we are dead     – for Ukraine, 2026 today not bornalways in the momentof epiphany he came for usmad dog that he ison a chain of saliva who knew his bloodwould run this coldinventing …

RSVP and details here plus Chris at Verb Readers and Writers Festival

I love writing sky poems. And I love it when the sky pops into a poem I am writing about something altogether different. For September I challenge you to write a sky poem. The sky might be the main…

For August I challenged you to write a poem that responds to the question the book asks: He Aha Te Mea Nui? What Matters Most? The Children’s Commissioner asked children across the motu this …

Birthday card My mokopuna made me a birthday card written in cloud-whitepen on bright blue card, the words so faint I need to read themup close in order to take in each word and letter.I have stuck…

Newsroom published Airini Beautrais’s memorable poem, ‘Cancer Moon: Poet Life’ from Salt Quilt (Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2026). The epic memoir poem has got so much love …

“This collection began with the watery space where I grew up and extends to the space that holds us all: the ocean. The poems built themselves around family who are always with me, even if go…

Airini Beautrais, Mikaela Nyman and Helen Llendorf are coming to Poppies Bookshop, New Plymouth in two weeks to read from their recent poetry collections and talk all things poetry and the poet&#82…

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let us hold Riemke to our hearts, as we stand, hand in hand breathing in the sweet salty air at Muriwai Beach, wherever we might be Waitakere River Valleyfor Derek March Lost, you say, the songs of…

The National Library assumed responsibility for the New Zealand Poet Laureate Award in 2007. For the ten years prior, this had had been the personal project and passion of John Buck of Te Mata Esta…

wow!

Wild Bluebellfor Anne Brown For your birthday I bought a cologne I’d never smelt but liked the sound of, a collection of Mary Oliver’s and a card with a woodcut print of a duck with a bow…

What can we do about Palestine? I stand in front of you nowa metaphorical stick in my handI bang it three times on the wooden floorThree is the sound of an urgent alarm Genocide speaks in a passive…

If you missed reading and listening to the wonderful Poetry Day feature .posted here on Friday . . here you go A crowd in Ōtepoti Dunedin’s Athenaeum library, the country’s oldest continuously oper…

Love Affair(a given poem from Katherine Mansfieldwith thanks to Helen McNeish) You wrote the tablewas laid for twobut nobody cameso you dined oppositea white napkin. It’s called giving yourse…

The Eastern Southland Gallery warmly invites you to a Floor Talk, Exhibition Opening and Poetry Reading, on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th September, to celebrate the e…

Tesseract, Jack Ross, illustrated by Scarlet Robinson-Kean paper table, 2026 “We’re only conscious for a small / part of the time allotted to us: there’ll never be any more of it,…

Join us for an evening of great poetry and fun people for our 12th straight year running All Tomorrow’s Poets at Time Out Bookstore. It’s a relaxed event featuring readings from five po…

Monday Reviews: I Am BrilliantTuesday Reviews: ImaginationsWednesday Reviews: Birds and AnimalsThursday Reviews: Places In this first time ever NZ Children’s Book Week, let’s share our love of read…

Event by Gonville Wisdom Circle, Women’s Network Whanganui and Airini Beautrais Gonville Library Duration: 1 hr Public  · Anyone on or off Facebook Join us for a fun crafty hour of makin…

Another great line-up!

Monday Reviews: I Am BrilliantTuesday Reviews: ImaginationsWednesday Reviews: Birds and Animals In this first time ever NZ Children’s Book Week, let’s share our love of reading and writing and book…

Poetry Box congratulates the winners of the NZ Book Awards for Children & Young Adults 2026. A special honour to for the writers of these incredible books. I am taking this moment to offer wide…

Monday Reviews: I Am BrilliantTuesday Reviews: Imaginations In this first time ever NZ Children’s Book Week, let’s share our love of reading and writing and books. Four reviews and an invitations b…

HIDE: a manuscript launch Thursday, 24 September, 6.00pm – 8.30pm Bedlam & Squalor, 1/18 Garrett Street, Te Aro, Wellington, 6011 (map) Register This event is free to attend – please regi…

I would so so love to be at this invent with poets whose work I hold dearly.

In this first time ever NZ Children’s Book Week, let’s share our love of reading and writing and books. Four reviews and an invitations below for children. 3 Reviews Grumble’s Bridge, Greg Ma…

Connection point I was sure this could start somewhere. It felt like it should. I connect into the above skull river. I pull the water down with my bare hands. I take it in through a coin slot in m…